Physical Therapy to begin direct access appointments

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman James Bolinger
  • 436th AW Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  The 436th Medical Operations Squadron Physical Therapy Clinic will change their appointment policy to accept direct appointments Feb 20.

"At many Air Force base's including Dover, in order to get an appointment at physical therapy members used to need a referral from their primary care manager," said Lt. Col. Shari Silverman, 436th MDOS Physical Therapy Flight commander. "We have decided to start accepting any active-duty member who has suffered an acute injury within 21 days without the referral of a primary care manager."

The Army has maintained this policy since the Vietnam War era, she added. This process has been attempted at other Air Force bases.

Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., implemented their direct access policy in November 2005 with great success, according to Capt. Bradley Kime, 99th Medical Operations Squadron Physical Therapy deputy element chief at Nellis AFB.

"Patients who were reporting to physical therapy sick call described getting better faster with fewer treatments," said Captain Kime. "We had a 65 percent decrease in the number of sick days used and patients averaged 10 percent higher recovery rates than with the referral system."

More than 300 Family Practice sick call appointments were saved over a five-month period at Nellis.

That is our goal, to open up some of the Family Practice sick call appointments for patients who actually need to be there," she said. "We estimate opening up approximately 2530 appointments monthly for Family Practice."

The new appointment system is expected to cut the average number of treatments per member in half, said Colonel Silverman.

"The average treatments per person is seven, that can be reduced to two or three with direct access appointments," she said. "We think we can save an estimated 150 work days and up to $48,000 in extra costs over the period of a year."

The physical therapy clinic doesn't expect their patient volume to increase despite opening up the appointment process.

"Since we would be seeing these patients anyway after they get a referral, this doesn't change our patient volume," she said.

However, the Physical Therapy Clinic, which has two board certified orthopedic physical therapists, will only accept certain kinds of injuries without a physician's referral.

"We concentrate on muscle sprains and strains, to include acute low-back or sudden neck or extremity injury," said Colonel Silverman. "Motor-vehicle accidents, high velocity falls, crush injuries and referrals from an emergency room will not be accepted. Members with these kinds of injuries need to see their primary care manager."

The Physical Therapy Clinic will also have the ability to issue duty restriction profiles to members during the appointment. Active-duty members with acute injuries can call physical therapy Monday through Friday at 677-2568 to make an appointment without a primary care manager referral.